This archive report was first published on 6 August 2020.
Published on August 6, 2020, by Wale Akinyemi, Chief Transformation Officer at PowerTalks.
As the world struggles to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, leaders are grappling with the massive disruptions it has caused. The debate is whether we should expect a post-Covid-19 order or learn to live with the coronavirus. The truth is that, whichever way things go, a demand will be made for lifestyle changes.
Businesses will need to be rebuilt, and those that lost relevance will need to rethink their strategies. Some have lost their lives, and those left behind will need to re-calibrate. If the virus is here to stay, there will be a need for major lifestyle changes, making social distancing and sanitation a culture. Even the state of mass transit will be altered forever.
However, the good news is that the greatest transformations happen after major tragedies. This is a historical fact. The United Nations, for instance, was born out of the world wars. Tragedies force people to craft solutions and trigger innovation.
If managed well, people looking back at this period in the future might just say that the best thing that happened to the African continent was the Covid-19 pandemic. The immediate effect of this pandemic on Africa was that people were confined to their nations, and travel abroad stopped. This forced people to look inward.
The greatest catalyst of growth is production. Africa had failed to develop an appetite for producing things locally, instead opting for imported goods. The pandemic ensured that we look inward and realize that homegrown products are good enough and sufficient.
Two types of leaders emerge during this pandemic: those who will wait out the pandemic hoping for the best and those who will look for opportunities within the pandemic and go after them with everything they have. The opportunists are pragmatists who do not seek the beaten path but thrive in creating new trails.
The new stars of this era will not be the ones who were pre-Covid-19 superstars. They will be those who can discover the inherent opportunities and navigate through them. There is a formula for detecting such opportunities: many do not recognize opportunities that come disguised as problems. If you can isolate the problems created by coronavirus in your workplace or immediate sphere, then behind these lies an opportunity. The opportunity is in the solution.
People look up to leaders for solutions. In complaining, you chip away at your leadership. Leaders cannot subscribe to the thinking of the led. They are different. Solution-minded people were designed to lead problem-minded people. It is in the mentality and how you carry yourself.
